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Wildlife officials at one of the most populous tiger zones in India are experimenting with a new set of camera traps — or cameras with infrared sensors deployed in forests to count wild animals or monitor the movement of potential poachers — that harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In experiments under way at the Kanha-Pench corridor in Madhya Pradesh, the system has, for the first time, caught poachers on camera that — a year down — helped forest authorities secure a conviction, according to a person involved in the experiment.
Cameras set up in remote regions are a key tool in surveys and census counts of tigers and elephants but have limitations such as requiring personnel physically access the machine to prise photos.
They are also bulky and are not always optimised to conserve charge to keep the instruments running.
The new kind of camera set-up, called the TrailGuard AI camera-alert system, being tested comprises slim devices that can be inconspicuously set up within the foliage of trees.
News
India-Middle East-EU corridor to have multiple routes, but hurdles remain (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Days after India, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries launched the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), officials said many of the details are still being ironed out, and multiple route options are being considered that will include ports such as the one at Haifa in Israel and Piraeus in Greece.
Among the ports that could be connected on the west coast of India are those at Mundra and Kandla in Gujarat, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai.
In West Asia, at least five ports have been shortlisted to be connected to the Indian ports which include those at Fujairah, Jebel Ali, and Abu Dhabi in the UAE as well as Dammam and Ras Al Khair ports in Saudi Arabia.
Apart from government-owned ports, the Mundra port and the Haifa port are privately controlled by the Adani Group, and have been highlighted in proposal documents that.
The onward rail route connectivity from five ports in the UAE and Saudi Arabia stretching up to the Haifa port in Israel will be a mix of already existing brownfield projects and fresh greenfield projects to connect missing links.
Kuno cheetahs to be released into the wild in winter with collars on (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The cheetahs in Kuno are likely to be released into the wild after the onset of winter, and they will have their collars fitted back on them, S.P. Yadav, head of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and key official with Project Cheetah.
A year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the first of eight African cheetahs, flown from Namibia into enclosures at the Kuno National Park , Madhya Pradesh, the plan was to have the animals — later joined by a cohort of 12 cheetahs from South Africa — range in the 748 sq. km of the park.
However, a year later, six of the 20 animals had died, and of the quartet of the first litter born to one of the animals, three succumbed to Kuno’s heat, with the surviving cub being hand-reared by park officials.
While ailments and adapting to Indian conditions are believed to be behind the death of the animals, a particular cause of worry has been the death of two cheetahs reportedly by parasitical infections from open, untreated wounds around their necks. Mr. Yadav dismissed suggestions that the collars were responsible.
Centre publishes disability database stripped of socio-economic figures (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
The Union government is shelving whatever socio-economic data it had collected while registering about 94 lakh Persons with Disabilities across the country for the issue of Unique Disability ID (UDID) cards in the past six years.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is justifying the move by questioning the “quality” of the socio-economic data collected.
The data being shelved include information such as socio-economic category (caste), level of education, employment status, income (personal and family) and marital status of PwDs, with officials saying the focus of the form was always to collect disability data and hence all these fields were made optional. Consequently, many skipped them.
Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) of the Social Justice Ministry, said, “The data are not being released because of quality issues.”
When asked if the department intends to pursue collecting socio-economic data for future UDID registrations, he said, The basic purpose of the form is to get a disability certificate and also, we cannot afford to make the form too lengthy by seeking information we cannot verify.
Canada, India trade talks paused over ‘certain issues’, says Goyal (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday confirmed that the ongoing trade negotiation with Canada has frozen due to disagreements on “certain issues”. His remarks came soon after Canada cancelled a trade mission to India that was to arrive in Mumbai in October.
We have given the trade dialogue with Canada a pause. We need to make sure that geopolitically and economically we are on the same page, we have had certain issues which are of serious concern and have been highlighted in the bilateral meeting between PM Narendra Modi and PM Justin Trudeau.
Earlier this month, Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma had indicated that the talks had stalled.
The Canadian side has requested that, let us take a pause and then we will restart. There is an honest request from the Canadian side.
This was followed by remarks by Canadian officials who accompanied Mr. Trudeau to the G-20 summit here during which they said that India had strongly objected to certain political developments within Canada.
World
Foreign aid arrives in flood-affected Libya but hopes fade for survivors (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Shipments of international aid began to arrive in Libya, offering a lifeline to thousands despite dwindling hopes of finding more survivors days after deadly flash floods.
Sunday’s floods submerged the port city of Derna, washing thousands of people and homes out to sea after two upstream dams burst under the pressure of torrential rains triggered by a hurricane-strength storm.
Conflicting death tolls have been reported, with the Health Minister of the eastern-based administration, Othman Abdeljalil, putting the number of lives lost at 3,166.
The World Health Organization said “the bodies of 3,958 people have been recovered and identified”, with 9,000 more still missing, as it announced 29 tonnes of aid had arrived in the eastern city of Benghazi.
This is a disaster of epic proportions. We are saddened by the unspeakable loss of thousands of souls.
An AFP correspondent saw two aid-laden planes, one from the United Arab Emirates and another from Iran, land in Benghazi, more than 300 kilometres west of Derna.
Science
Why Nipah virus outbreaks are occurring only in Kerala (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Since May 2018 when Kerala reported the first Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode district, there have been three more outbreaks of Nipah virus including the latest one in late-August 2023.
For reasons still not known, three of the four Nipah outbreaks in Kerala in 2018, 2021 and 2023 have been in Kozhikode district; the 2019 outbreak was in Ernakulam district.
Even five years after the first outbreak, and four outbreaks in all, it is still unclear why three of the four outbreaks have been in Kozhikode district in Kerala. Fruit bats that can cause Nipah virus outbreaks in humans are not restricted to Kozhikode district.
As per a 2021 study, Nipah virus was found to be in circulation in fruit bats (Pteropus species) in “many districts” in Kerala.
An ongoing survey in 14 States by NIV Pune has found Nipah virus antibodies in fruit bats (Pteropus medius) in nine States, including Kerala, and the Union Territory of Pondicherry.
While date palm sap was linked to Nipah virus outbreaks in Bangladesh, and pigs acting as intermediate hosts were responsible for Nipah outbreaks in Malaysia, the route of virus transmission from bats to humans has not been clearly established in Kerala.
The four outbreaks in five years may be because the virus has either become endemic in bats in Kerala or is a reflection of Kerala’s superior healthcare system that thoroughly investigates undiagnosed fever cases for possible Nipah virus infection or both.
However, with fruit bats positive for Nipah virus antibodies being found in other States, it is likely that Nipah virus infection and deaths may be going undetected in other States while they get picked up in Kerala, especially in Kozhikode district.
Evasive nutritional support for TB patients (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Undernutrition is the leading risk factor for TB disease. In 2019, Preeti Sudan, Secretary in the Health Ministry noted letter that undernutrition at the population level contributes to 55% of annual TB incidence in India.
A 2022 study noted that 45% of people in India are undernourished, accounting for nearly 1.2 million TB cases each year.
Yet, nutrition support became a part of the national TB programme only in April 2018 when Nikshay Poshan Yojana — a direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for nutritional support to TB patients — was launched. Under this programme, ₹500 per month is credited into the account of a person with TB for the duration of treatment.
In September 2022, India launched another nutrition support programme called Ni-kshay Mitra to consented TB patients. And in 2022, Tamil Nadu became the first and only State to launch the Differentiated TB Care programme to reduce the mortality rate among TB patients. Severe undernutrition is one of the three parameters used for triaging TB patients at the time of diagnosis.
Over 75% of European bumblebee species threatened (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
More than 75% of European bumblebee species may be threatened in the next 40-60 years according to worst-case-scenario projections of bumblebee populations, according to a paper published in Nature.
Degradation of habitats and alterations of climate due to human activity are identified as key drivers of these estimated population declines.
The findings underscore the importance of climate change mitigation policies to protect bumblebees.
Our results underline the critical role of globalchange mitigation policies as effective levers to protect bumblebees from manmade transformation of the biosphere,” the authors write. Around 90% of all wild plants and most crop plants benefit from pollination by animals.
The bumblebee (Bombus) is a genus of bees considered to be especially important for the pollination of crops in the cold and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.
FAQ
What is driving the Global Biofuels Alliance? (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
On September 10, on the sidelines of the annual G-20 summit in New Delhi, an India-led grouping came together to give impetus to the production and use of biofuels, an alternative to fossil fuels like petroleum and diesel.
The grouping, called the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) would attempt to bring countries together to co-develop, accelerate technological advances in production processes, and advocate for the use of biofuels particularly in the transport sector.
The three founding members, India, the U.S. and Brazil, were joined by Argentina, Canada, Italy and South Africa, who are also G-20 member countries.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) defines biofuels as “liquid fuels derived from biomass and used as an alternative to fossil fuel based liquid transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels.”
Experts in the field make a distinction between biofuels and sustainable biofuels. The former is derived from crops grown specifically to produce biofuels such as sugarcane, corn, or soybean, and the latter is from agricultural waste, used cooking oil and processed animal residues like fats.
The former is colloquially referred to as 1G ethanol, or first-generation biofuel, and the latter as 2G, that is second-generation.
This distinction has now come into sharp focus as climate change accelerates, with fears of threat to food security and increased loss of forests and biodiversity due to greater land required for farming.
Estimates suggest that well over half of all vegetated land is under cultivation today, and that agriculture is one of the world’s largest carbon emitters. The GBA has emphasised that its focus would be to develop 2G ethanol.
How will Middle East corridor impact trade? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
At a special event on the sidelines of the recently concluded G-20 summit in New Delhi, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to establish the ‘India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor’ (IMEC).
Other than the two co-chairs of the event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden, the signatories included leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the European Union (EU), Italy, France and Germany. The project forms part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII).
The proposed IMEC will consist of railroad, ship-to-rail networks (road and sea) and road transport routes (and networks) extending across two corridors.
While the east corridor will connect India to the Gulf, the northern corridor will connect the Gulf to Europe. As per the MoU, the railway, upon completion, would provide a “reliable and cost-effective cross-border ship-to-rail transit network to supplement existing maritime and road transports routes”.
Profiles
Winds of change in global governance (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
After decades of being ignored, it would seem that the Global South has come into vogue. At the G-20 summit in Delhi this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was the Global South’s priorities that drove India’s Presidency, and with developing countries Indonesia, India, Brazil and South Africa as consecutive hosts of the grouping, the direction seems set.
Earlier this year, PM Modi hosted a virtual summit for the “Voice of the Global South”, with about 125 countries included to seek their opinions on how to set those priorities.
We, the Global South, have the largest stakes in the future. Three fourths of humanity lives in our countries. We should also have equivalent voice. Hence, as the eight-decade old model of global governance slowly changes, we should try to shape the emerging order,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, at the opening of the virtual meeting for the Voice of the Global South Summit in January.
At the G-20 summit itself, the induction of the 55-nation African Union was seen as one of the substantial outcomes of the conference.
At last year’s Climate change conference, CoP 27 in Egypt, the proclamation of the ‘Loss and Damage fund’ was seen as a victory for the Global South, and in the upcoming CoP 28 in the UAE, the Global South will also drive conversations on mitigating climate change while keeping the development priorities of what was once called ‘The Third World’.
Deadly outbreak (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
The Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala in 2018 was, in retrospect, the first true outbreak people had witnessed in living memory. For a population fed, on screen, with pacy narratives, dizzying tales of disease, horror and death, the 2018 Nipah virus (NiV) outbreak was a horrifying reel-to-real conversion.
In the latest outbreak in Kozhikode, six have tested positive and two died. NiV, with its periodic outbreaks in Kerala (fourth, now), has come to symbolise the fear and paralysis that encircle emerging diseases in modern times.
A zoonotic disease that jumped from animals to humans as a consequence of a ‘zoonotic spillover’, NiV underlines the fact that anthropogenic causes are driving the new pandemics of the world.
As these diseases emerge with stunning regularity, with their power to disrupt life, and alter the social fabric, it is incumbent upon those who rule, and those who heal, to acknowledge the dramatically changing disease factors, and the need to address health care more holistically.
Business
‘Beyond economy’s ranking, per capita income must also rise’ (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
While India becoming the fifth-largest economy in the world is an ‘impressive achievement,’ there is a need to grow fast to increase the per capita income from the present levels, former Reserve Bank of India Governor C Rangarajan.
Addressing the 13th Convocation of the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Mr. Rangarajan said post COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, there is a need to lay down a clear roadmap for India’s future development and the first and foremost task is to raise the growth rate.
In 2020, India’s rank with respect to per capita income was 142 out of 197 countries. This only shows the distance we have to travel. All the same, we have no choice but to grow fast, given the present level of per capita income.
According to calculations, he said, if the country achieves a 7% rate of growth continuously over the next two decades and more, it will make a substantial change to the level of the economy and India may almost touch the status of a developed economy.
Fall in tea prices hits small farmers (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Small tea farmers in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district have been hit by a drop in tea leaf prices over the last few months.
Small and micro farmers in the Nilgiris harvest almost 40 crore kilogram (kg) of tea leaves annually and this year the production has risen by almost one crore kg, said H.N. Sivan, promoter of Nilgiris Nectar Organic Farmer Producers’ Organization.
Growers got on average ₹20.99 for a kg of green leaf during the COVID pandemic (August 2020). But the prices started declining gradually and in August 2022, their crop fetched on average ₹14.38 per kg.
The base price fixed by the Tea Board India this August for the Nilgiris farmers was only ₹14.54 a kg, said K. Manivannan, secretary of the Naaku Betta Badagar Welfare Association.
Growers who supply to a couple of INDCO factories received ₹11 - ₹15 a kg. And the average price that they got in the market was about ₹12. The small growers had been staging a hunger protest for more than two weeks now demanding “reasonable prices”.